Disgraced Home And Away Star 'turned To Meth' After He Was Snubbed For Major US Role

A star of Home and Away has fallen from grace dramatically.

In early 2019, actor Orpheus Pledger, who portrayed Mason Morgan in the Australian serial opera Home and Away from 2016 until 2019, entered a guilty plea for abusing a woman. The sentencing was scheduled on July 3, but because of Pledger’s complicated needs, it has been postponed.

After being passed over for a part that would have allowed him to break through in Hollywood, he has battled substance abuse and mental health issues in recent years. This Monday, Pledger’s attorney, Jasper MacCuspie, revealed in court that the actor was in “late stage negotiations” for a part in the popular US drama The 100.

However, he received a “last-minute” rejection letter. This was “quite a destabilizing event,” according to MacCuspie, for Pledger.

Pledger, 31, is said to have begun taking meth in his mid- to late-20s, although he never developed an addiction. However, it was said that after being passed over by The 100 bosses, he started using more.

Since then, Pledger has exhibited increasingly dubious behavior, appearing to post pictures of himself in the nude on social media. He posted a video of himself in the shower in 2021, where he was fully nude and his penis was momentarily visible.

In 2019, Pledger’s final acting role was in the film Home And Away. If he had been cast on The 100, he might have gone on to play significant roles in America.

He was detained in detention after being arrested for assaulting a woman in March 2024, two years later. He was supposed to show up for a bail hearing on April 23 but did not show up. It was reported that he had fled the hospital while awaiting a medical evaluation.

Following a two-day manhunt and the issuance of an arrest warrant, he was apprehended and placed under custody. He entered a guilty plea to assault and harm causing on July 1.

MacCuspie, Pledger’s attorney, contended that the actor’s previous legal troubles were “irrelevant”. The 94 days of pre-sentence imprisonment, according to him, were “sufficient if not almost there,” and Pledger ought to obtain a community corrections order in its place.

Prosecutors countered that the crime was a “serious incident” and that it was “not a trivial case of… violence”. However, they acknowledged that a community protection order would be suitable.

Pledger’s assessment will take some time, according to Magistrate Justin Foster, because “at the moment the court doesn’t know if it’s a mental health or drug issue.” The Age reports that this procedure will require six weeks.

Up until that point, Pledger is required to spend ninety days living at home with his father, observe a daily curfew from eleven p.m. to six a.m., and submit to a weekly police report. According to reports, if Pledger is found guilty, the sentence may include six months in prison.